


See you again.

by stickylips14



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien x Marinette - Freeform, Angst, F/M, One Shot, adrienette - Freeform, breaking up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-22
Updated: 2016-01-22
Packaged: 2018-05-15 12:30:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5785408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stickylips14/pseuds/stickylips14
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You can't save everything from breaking.</p>
            </blockquote>





	See you again.

Adrien was eighteen years old.

He was standing across from Marinette in her room and the three feet of space between them might as well have been a canyon, they had never been so far away from each other. It was filled with the memories of the last three years. An abundance of firsts; first kiss, first date, first dance, first time making love. First fight. The one year anniversary where Adrien had taken Marinette to an art gallery opening after letting her pick anything she wanted to wear from his father’s latest collection. They had stolen champagne glasses off of a passing waiter’s serving tray and had made out, hidden behind a display block, giddy and more tipsy off their bad behavior than the wine. There was the memory of the last time they ever transformed into Chat Noir and Ladybug, to fight that last battle. There was the memory of their sheer and terror and determination when the battle became harder than anything they had ever done. There was the memory of the following morning, where they had just laid together in his bed, not ready to say goodbye to their kwami yet. They went back to bed afterwards, and let themselves cry out the strange mix of relief and grief they felt.

And now there was this memory, the last one that could be stowed away with the rest of everything that had accumulated over the three years that had been their relationship. It was filled with tears and apologies and insistence that there was no blame; just something that didn’t fit where it used to anymore. Not an absence of love, just an absence of understanding. Marinette was the one snuffing out the flame, but Adrien wasn’t fighting the decision.

“Are we really doing this?” He had asked, and the first tear cut a path down Marinette’s cheek as she nodded, resolute. He had nodded back, knowing that nothing he said now could be said without his voice cracking. Marinette walked him to the front door in tense silence, waiting for the moment when the tears wouldn’t be containable. Adrien took two steps out of the door before he came back like he was drawn by a magnet, and they threw their arms around each other, pulling each other close in a desperate sort of way, faces pressed into shoulders and Marinette’s small hands balled in the back of his shirt.

They pulled away. Adrien left.

 

Adrien is twenty-four years old.

He’d been invited to an art gallery opening for an artist he didn’t have any particular interest in, but he was the face of his father’s brand, and he had learned long ago not to pick the events he went to in order of his interests. There were faces he recognized, and he made all the polite noises and pleasant but vague conversation, steering away from subjects that were bound to lead to political debate. When people asked about what he thought of the art, he smiled and nodded and made shallow comments like ‘it’s interesting’, which was accepted because he was ‘only a model’, as if that meant there were somethings he just wouldn’t understand. Truth be told, he just wasn’t in the mood for discussion. He was staring up at an abstract portrait of the artist when the small, older woman that was the curator for the gallery gently laid her hand on his forearm as not to startle him. Immediately he put on his smile, shaking the woman’s hand. “Oh, Adrien, I’m really glad you made it tonight! There’s someone I want to introduce to you.” She led him through the crowd, holding his hand delicately like he was a child who might get lost in the crush. She spoke as they walked. “She’s an up and coming fashion designer, someone you _really_ want to keep an eye. She’s going to be big.” She pulled Adrien to a halt, and he only needed to see her back to know.

Her hair was swept off her neck in an elaborate up-do involving a lot of braids, pinned in place with a hand full of small white pearls. The curator caught her attention, and she turned to face them. Her eyes were blue as ever, shining under the gallery lighting just like her lips, painted berry red. She wore a simple, elegant black dress with a plunging neckline that walked the line of modesty, and the dress followed her curves, stopping short of her knees. Her smile was bright until she looked at him, and Adrien watched her react and recognize him even as she tried to hide it.

“Adrien, this is Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Marinette, Adrien Agreste.” The curator was saying, and Marinette’s polite smile snapped back into place and she nodded, her gaze sliding back over to the woman.

“Yes, I think we’ve met before.”

“Oh, lovely! Then I’ll let you two alone.” And she did, and Marinette and Adrien were left facing each over, in disbelief, although there was nothing strange about them both being here. Adrien had never doubted that Marinette would raise to fame. Of course she was here. And his heart wasn’t beating right anymore, and he couldn’t seem to breathe in enough air and he felt a rush of warmth run over him as the carefully stored memories of their past life unpacked themselves. He felt a stab of longing, and he hoped she felt it, too. Finally managing to find his voice, he asked the only thing that came to mind.

“Do you want to get out of here?”

“Yes. Let me get my coat.”

They walked side by side, Marinette’s heels clicking against the pavement, her hands deep in the pockets of her coat. A silence hung between them and they caught each other as they looked over at each other, like they were double-checking that it was real.

They hadn’t seen each other since Marinette had left for university. Six years ago.

“I didn’t know you were back in Paris.” Adrien said, finally, as they both stepped over the low fence of a small playground ment for the children residing in the apartment complexes of the area. They sat on the swings together, and Marinette pushed herself slowly with the toes of her shoes in the bark.

“I only came back a month ago, I’m still getting settled in. I’m staying with my parents until I find an apartment I can afford. You know nothing’s really changed in all the time I’ve been away-- I walked past our high school the other day. It feels like it was just yesterday that we were there.” She laughed, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear and smiling over at him. She seemed so relaxed around him, yet his mind conjured up the image of her at fifteen years old, stammering and furiously blushing every time they spoke in passing. She was so far away from that now, a young woman with a bright future and the confidence to achieve it on her own. She had dreamed of taking on an apprenticeship with one of the big labels, but she had never needed to. She had studied business as well as fashion.

“Yeah, I still feel like I’m sixteen years old, I have no idea what I’m doing.” Adrien let out a huff of a laugh, his hands hanging between his knees as he twisted the swing side to side. The chains creaked at the strain. “I’m still not really sure what I want to do with my life.” He paused, letting a silence hang between them. Nervousness chewed at his stomach, but he wanted to be honest. “And I’m still besotted.” Her lips parted on a sharp intake of breath, her heels digging in to bring her gentle swinging to a halt. Marinette smiled at him, but her eyes were sad and Adrien did his best to interpret it as regret, not resignation to their situation. He licked his lips and shook it off with a laugh that was practiced enough not to sound fake and she joined him and started swinging again. “It’s really good to see you again, Nettie.”

“God, no one has called me that in years! Not since high school, everyone at university called me Mari.” Her head tipped to the side a fraction, and Adrien watched the flash of her neck in the low light provided only by the streetlamps. “I think I prefer Nettie. Although it might be strange to have someone that isn’t you call me that.”

Adrien grinned in a way she knew all too well; like a cheshire cat, so thoroughly pleased by her words. “So let me be the only one who calls you that.”

She rolled her eyes in playful jest, and his chest swelled with longing again. He wanted to stay in this moment forever, with Marinette within arms reach of him again, beautiful and happy and confident. So beautiful, in the last six years she had become a young woman, the planes of her face balanced and her impeccable bone structure refined. But she still appeared soft, her face still heart shaped, it just had more angles than before. She had grown out her hair, and he desperately wanted to see it let down around her shoulders. “Alright, kitty.”

“Princess.”

Marinette rolled her eyes again and stood up, stretching her hands up above her head before returning them to her coat pockets. “Walk me to my car, handsome boy.”

 

“ _Really?_ ” Was all Adrien could say when he saw Marinette’s car, parked half a block away from the small playground.

“What?” She pouted, resting her back against the door of the car, her arms crossed defensively over her chest. “Beetles are cool!”

Adrien laughed, but he decided not argue with her about how entirely uncool Volkswagon beetles were. It was just the fact that Marinette had picked to drive a bright red Volkswagon beetle. He supposed none of them had ever entirely let go of their hero personas, even though it had been years since Paris had needed them to come to the rescue. Nothing happened now that the normal authorities couldn’t handle, but he missed the rush of being able to fearlessly run along the Paris skyline with his lady luck right beside him, glowing. He stepped in close to her, their feet competing for space on the curb when he stood square in front of her, his hand coming up to rest casually against the side of the car. He didn’t box her in, he never did.

“Do you ever miss it?” he asked. Marinette tucked her hands behind herself, looking down at their feet for a moment before she met his eye, her head tipped to the side. A strand of hair slid out of place and curled in front of her ear.

“Miss what?”

“Being Ladybug, saving Paris from akumas.” Adrien tried not watch the way she licked her lips, making her lipstick shine, as she thought about the question, seeming to turn it over in her mind.

“I used to. And sometimes I still do, but then I remember how much time it took away from me to focus on other things, and how much I’ve gotten done since we stopped. And it was never going to be a life long duty, our mission was to stop Hawkmoth and then we would be able to go back to our lives knowing what we had accomplished. Do you miss it?”

With a delicate touch, Adrien brushed the stray lock of hair behind Marinette’s ear, brushing his fingers down to touch the diamond stud that replaced her Miraculous. Feeling brave, he ran the back of his fingers down her cheek and she met his gaze with soft eyes. “I miss being with you.” He spoke sincerely, and his words were only for her, not quite whispered, but he had leaned in to say it and as his hand turned to cup her cheek, he kissed her.

The kiss was everything. All other sensations; the pavement under his feet, the cold press of the car under one hand, the slight, cold breeze that wasn’t strong enough to disturb his hair. It all vanished so that all he knew was the achingly familiar sensation of Marinette’s petal soft lips melded against his perfectly and her unwinding beneath him. He cupped her head in his hands and felt her mouth fall open just a fraction. Adrien took his time, dropping little kisses along her lips, teasing them with little sighs of warm breath. His thumbs brushed over her bottom lip, briefly, before he pressed their lips together again and his tongue ran over the seam of her lips. He felt the cautious touch of her fingers against his chest, and then her hands pressed flat against him and pushed. There was suddenly space between them again and Adrien couldn’t hide his bewilderment, and then the crush that he knew she had put it between them on purpose. Her fingertips touched her lip, her eyes cast to the ground.

“I’m sorry- I--” She waved a hand to stop him, looking back up at him with a sad, apologetic smile. She twined her fingers together in front of her and took a deep breath.  
“I want to say this, so I’ll try and be brave.” Marinette started, and he saw how badly she wanted to avoid his eye and instead watch her hands, but defiantly and as bravely as she always was she did not look down. “Adrien, I’m never going to regret that I met you. I gave you everything I had to give and you were who I wanted.” She stopped, and looked away, to the side, and the tears welling up in her eyes caught in the street light and Adrien wanted to stop her. He wanted to kiss her again and beg her not to say anymore. He felt as raw as he had standing in her bedroom years before this moment, like his insides had turned to ice, like the world was unravelling from under his feet. She breathed deeply so her voice wouldn’t crack. “But I’ve never regretted it being over. I love you, I always will. I promise I’m not just saying that and I’m so, so sorry if it gives you false hope-- I don’t want to lead you on.” She stopped, squeezing her eyes shut and tipped her head back, like it would stop the tears from falling the same way it stopped a bloodied nose. The hand she brought up to her mouth was shaking when she made herself look at him again. “There’s nothing to save, Adrien. We can’t go back to what we were.”

They stared across at each other, and they understood. The door had shut behind them a long time ago, and the kiss was the last of it finishing. Like they had when they were eighteen years old, they pulled each other into their arms, holding onto each other desperately and they pressed their faces into each other’s necks. They cried one last time in mourning, knowing it would be done when they finished.

They held onto each other for a long time.

When they let go, Adrien opened the car door for Marinette and she climbed into the driver’s seat, wiping away the mascara that had streaked under her eyes. She couldn’t help but laugh a little at the smear of burgundy lipstick she had left on Adrien’s suit lapel, but she didn’t bother to tell him. There weren’t many words left and that wasn’t how she wanted to spend them. Adrien kept a hand on the door, breathing in deeply so that he could find the strength to smile down at her. “I’ll look out for your collection during fashion week this year. I know you’ll be amazing, Nettie.”

Her smile was watery, but real. “I’ll see you in the magazines, handsome boy.”

Adrien closed the car door for her, stepped back with a small wave. He knew she had to leave and not look back, so he watched her pull away from the curb with her eyes on the road the whole time. Adrien put his hands in his jacket pockets and tipped his head back the same way Marinette had and no tears fell. He just closed his eyes and breathed in the cold air for a long time before he started the wander back to the art gallery that was almost surreal. The party was still there, still happening, as if no time had passed from when he had stepped out. He was standing in a room full of people who had no idea what had just happened a block and a half away. The turmoil was self contained. It affected no one but Adrien.

He picked a glass of champagne off a waiter’s tray, and let himself be pulled into the superficial small talk again and if he seemed distant, far away from the present, no one said anything.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know why this idea occurred to me but in a morbid kind of way I like the idea that Marinette and Adrien don't last forever, that things end and hearts break and there's nothing either of them can do about it. So have this little one shot exploring that in a sort of vague way.  
> Comments and kudos are always welcome, let me know what you think.  
> Love you guys x


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